I noticed the change yesterday. I had a hard time locating the app on my phone. My mind tricked me. While the app was in the same location, lower left corner, of my phone, my mind led me to believe it was missing. It wasn’t the same shade of green that I had associated Spotify with, so my eyes skipped it. In fact, I hinted at this experience yesterday in my blog where I likened the color of the wasabi to the new color of the Spotify logo (Read: Don Atilano’s Wakagi bento).

So what if it’s changed its color?

Psychology explains that color has a bearing on our emotions. Even our appetites are affected by color. (Orange is said to make you hungry. So if you’re going on a fruit diet, keep that orange away!) Green is generally described to evoke emotions linked to freshness, excitement, serenity and focus. When you go wrong with that “saturation” setting, it could likely connote boredom, greed, or grief.

The first Spotify logo was on the bright side. It’s as perky as that green apple you find in your supermarket. It appeared to have that gloss on it that drew you to a conclusion that there was always refreshing music awaiting. It also was friendlier to the eyes — it had just enough seduction but never overwhelming, helping you locate it in the midst of those colorful and glistening free apps on your iPhone.

Spot “Sleeping Beauty” . It looks dead, doesnt it?

But when Spotify did that “minor modification”, users, including me, were in for another circus of psychoemotional adjustment. The pale green looks like moss drained of its liquid in a mortar and pestle. It was lifeless. It appears bitter and exasperated. It’s a picture of Sleeping Beauty decomposing after waiting in vain for that precious kiss. When your eyes meet it, it doesn’t pop up like it wants to pull you towards it to click; it’s just there — click me, fine; don’t click me, fine. Duh!

Spotify might want to give its new logo an old coat of green paint. On second thought, maybe the new color drumbeats the rumored bankruptcy and is only conditioning us all to hate it, so that when Spotify folds up, we’re not going to miss it as much.